IMPORTANT BLOG ANNOUNCEMENT

PLEASE CHANGE YOUR BOOKMARKS AND FEEDS TO THE NEW URL, YANKEEANALYSTS.COM. TYU IS IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH THE NEW YORK YANKEES OR YANKEES UNIVERSE.

Top 5 Reasons the Crowd Sucked Last Night

Posted by Tom Gaffney at 5:01 pm 25 Responses »
Oct 082009

I can’t believe I’m focusing on the one glaring negative of an otherwise brilliant victory, but what the heck happened to the crowd at Yankee Stadium last night?  The very first playoff game in new Yankees Stadium history, the first playoff game since the Yankees missed out on the postseason in 2008, the first playoff game for the restructured, 103 win NY Yankees: all these facts would make one think that you’d get a crowd as fired up as any in the last 10 years.  MMMMmm not so much.  Instead they get… robots -robots programmed to sit on their hands.

That was clearly the lamest playoff crowd I’ve ever seen.  At first, I thought that maybe the telecast was deliberately damping down the crowd noise, but in the YES postgame, Kay and Flaherty bemoaned the disappointing and passionless crowd.  The Yankees fall behind: no reaction.  Jeter ties it up with a blast: no reaction.  Matsui steps on the Twins’ neck with a monstrous opposite field blast: no reaction.  Joba comes into the game: no reaction.  Kay said that he kept waiting for the crowd to explode, but they never did.  This just hours after I heard Tino Martinez lauding the Yankee Stadium playoff atmosphere as special and completely different than other venues.  Is it possible that Yankee fans are no longer special?  Do we just no longer have the passion we had 10 years ago to make the stadium shake from its foundation?  What possible reason could there be for such an embarrassing showing?  What do you guys think?  Here are some possible explanations:

  1. The Yankee fans are spoiled. Like the Brave fans got after making the playoffs every year: the Atlanta fans simply lost interest.  Yawn, another playoff game.  You’d think that after missing a year, however, the fans would come back with renewed fury.
  2. The early start time. Too many late arrivals somehow messed everything up to the point where the crowd just never got going?  Not sure I see the rationale in this, but it was mentioned on the YES postgame.
  3. Ticket pricing and distribution. The original tickets were not terribly overpriced, but they were pretty much impossible to get.   Yet anyone scanning Craigslist or Stubhub will find thousands of obscenely overpriced seats for his or her taking.  Rich fans and corporate fans = boring fans (in general – there are exceptions to the rule).
  4. Overconfidence. Maybe the Yankee fans are taking this series for granted and will show up against the Red Sox or Angels?  If so, we should be embarrassed.  You never know what can happen in this game – I guarantee you that the Twins fans will show up.  It will be really humiliating for the whole country to see the difference between real fans and the passionless robots that filled seats in last night’s contest.
  5. Three words: Stepford Yankee Fans. Rabid, frothing at the mouth Yankee fans go into the stadium gates, are pulled aside by security, only to be replaced by an exact replica that is quiet, mannerly, cleans up after itself and purchases four times the concessions and memorabilia!   Scary stuff, my friends.

What do you guys think the reason behind this shockingly poor showing is?  Are you worried that it might become a trend or do you think it’s just recession related or something similar?  Maybe the best fans are just saving their pennies for the biggest games?  Also let us know if you were at the game and if you agree with what it seemed like to Kay, Flaherty and TV viewers.

Tagged with: ,

Breaking Down CC's Game 1 Start

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 3:00 pm 4 Responses »
Oct 082009

CC Sabathia delivered a strong Yankees postseason debut last night, going 6.2 innings, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 8 hits, zero walks, and 8 strikeouts. However, as Joe Pawlikowski notes, CC did not have everything working last night:

It took Sabathia 64 pitches to get through the first three innings, but he settled down after that, requiring just 31 pitches to get through the next three. He appeared to tire in the seventh, using 18 pitches to record two outs while putting runners on second and third. Phil Hughes came on to quell the threat, striking out Orlando Cabrera has he has done to so many other hitters this season.

“My changeup was really good,” said Sabathia. “The cutter was pretty good with two strikes.” Yet Sabathia admitted that not everything was perfect. “The fastball command wasn’t always there, but I was able to make some pitches when I needed to get someone out.”

This is something that was clearly noticeable throughout his start, as he consistently missed with his fastball. Meanwhile, his breaking pitches were stellar, as he was locating them perfectly and getting plenty of swing-and misses on them. The changeup, in particular, looked excellent, and he was using it to set up his slider as the out pitch for much of the night. He struck out 8 batters, and 7 of them were swinging strikeouts. Of the swinging strikeouts, 6 were on sliders, and one was on a changeup, and the one looking K was also on a slider. Here are the numbers on his pitches:

Pitches/Total Strikes/Swinging Strikes

FB: 58/33/2
SI: 7/4/1
CH: 21/15/5
SL: 26/18/7
CU: 1/1/0

While the Jorge Posada bashing will probably be constant over the next few days, Jorge should get credit for limiting use of the fastball in the later innings, as CC started off most of the hitters after the 3rd inning with breaking stuff. The numbers support this observation, as CC threw barely half of his pitches as fastballs (58 of 113, or 51.3%). Compare that to his fantastic start against Boston on August 8th, where CC threw 78 fastballs among his 123 pitches (63.4%). Most of the slack was taken up by the changeup, which was used 11 more times in last night’s game than it was used in that August contest.

The adjustment was quite noticeable, as CC began flying though innings and clearly settled down after a rocky first 3 innings. Hopefully CC has his fastball command in his next start. However, we saw last night that even when he does not, he can be quite effective.

Tagged with: ,

Burnett Denies He Requested Molina

Posted by Steve S. at 1:00 pm 3 Responses »
Oct 082009

AJ Burnett was interviewed before last night’s game about (what else) the fact that Jose Molina will be catching him instead of Jorge Posada. He denied that he requested such a move and said it was completely manager Joe Girardi’s decision. Here’s the story:

A.J. Burnett has earned the Yankees’ Game 2 assignment for the American League Division Series against the Twins on Friday, and he alone — not Jorge Posada or Jose Molina — will determine its success.

“My good games, I’m right,” Burnett said. “And my bad games, it’s not the catcher. It’s me.”

He went on to say

Both Burnett and Girardi swear that the right-hander did not request to pitch to Molina, though Burnett has been unable to dodge the perception that he and Posada do not get along.

“It’s making me out to be a bad guy again,” said Burnett, who lauded Posada as a leader both on and off the field. “If you ask people who I’ve played with, I don’t show guys up.”

My first impression is that this is preplanned spin by the Yanks, knowing that questions will be asked and making sure everyone involved has their stories straight. But thinking about it a bit more, it’s completely consistent with everything Burnett has said all year and what we know about him as a person. He has never once blamed Jorge for a bad outing, never. By all accounts he has been not just a good guy in the clubhouse, but an outstanding teammate who never blames his fielders, even when they’re completely their fault. You may recall the June 20th game facing the Florida Marlins where a Johnny Damon error cost AJ the win, and he simply placed the blame on himself, saying in the post game that he shouldn’t have given up the 1st run and praising Johnny for busting his butt out there for him.

Even Jorge Posada’s account from yesterday doesn’t contradict any of these quotes, or any of Girardi’s. When asked if this was debated at all, he simply said “manager’s decision” which is exactly what Girardi and AJ are saying. He also said “It’s not like I didn’t see this coming” but that could be referring to the fact that he hasn’t caught Burnett in over a month. Nobody’s disputing the fact that these two had trouble getting on the same page, but that doesn’t mean it was personal in any way.

Full disclosure here, I support this move. AJ has the most electric stuff on the staff and as we saw last night (and have seen for many years) Jorge has trouble blocking the plate. You don’t want a pitcher to feel like he has to hold back from throwing his best pitch for fear it will wind up in foul territory. Everyone likes to point to the August 22nd blowout in Fenway and the Ortiz HR as the clearest sign that these two weren’t on the same page, but AJ Burnett has also logged a career high in Wild Pitches this season, and I don’t think his control got worse at age 32 than it was at 24. Little things can decide playoff games, and if the Yanks weren’t facing the Twins 7th starter last night, that 2nd run allowed on Jorge’s half-hearted attempt to field a wild pitch he should have blocked could have been decisive.

Tagged with: , ,

Jeter Plans To Play Into His 40's

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 11:00 am 20 Responses »
Oct 082009

In a larger piece about Jeter’s improved defense and his new workout regimen, Ian O’Connor delivers a money quote:

Jeter realized he had to alter his method of preparation. He realized he had to improve to meet his stated goal of playing well into his 40s, and of spending the majority of those years at the only position he’s ever wanted to hold.

So with Yankees officials and coaches privately hoping their shortstop could restore his diminishing range and table the ultradelicate issue of a possible move to the outfield, Jeter hired a new fitness trainer before last season for the purpose of fielding more balls to his left.

“We discussed how we can keep him in the game as long as he wants to play,” said Jason Riley, director of performance of the Athletes Compound at Tampa’s Saddlebrook Resort. “Derek said it may not be eight to 10 years at shortstop, but that he wanted to play that long.

Playing another 5-8 years from the end of this season would mean Jeter playing until he was anywhere from 40-43. While some continue to suggest that Jeter will soon need to make a position change, I am not so certain. As long as he keeps his glove at or above league average, something he has done over the last two years, his bat plays better at short than it will anywhere else. It would take a major defensive decline to convince me that he needs to be moved to retain his value.

In regard to his offense, I think that he has the right skill set to stay effective into his 40′s. While bat speed is generally the first thing to go, I would suggest that a player who frequently tries to stay back on the ball and drive it the other way would likely be able to compensate for reduced bat speed. As long as he stays in shape, he should be at worst an adequate answer at shortstop for the next 5 years.

Tagged with: ,

Random Thoughts-ALDS Game 1 reactions

Posted by Steve S. at 6:56 am 12 Responses »
Oct 082009

-If you’re in the ‘Posada should catch AJ Burnett’ camp, you had a rough night last night. 2 passed balls and a wild pitch (that most catchers block) on the evening, one of them leading directly to a run scored with Mauer on 3B in the 3rd inning. The 2nd passed ball was the result of a miscommunication between Jorge and CC, the first one he just whiffed on. Even his hit wasn’t anything to boast about, it was an excuse me pop fly to right that simply landed where nobody could catch it. To top it all off, Matsui hit the biggest HR of the evening, so any notion of sitting Hideki and placating Jorge with a DH start was shot down as well. If you’re Jorge and going to bitch about being sat down, you should really bring it for the game you start, and show Girardi why he’s wrong. Posada did the exact opposite last night, he proved Girardi right.

-Boy, the Twins sure looked tired in the 1st inning last night. CC didn’t look overly sharp, he actually seemed a bit nervous to me (which is fine) and the Twins hitters were missing his pitches by a foot. Denard Span couldn’t pick up his slider all night, but even Cabrera and Mauer were failing to make contact on some swings. As the game wore on, they looked better. But I don’t think we got a true measure of the Twins team last night. AJ Burnett vs Blackburn with everyone getting a good night’s sleep should more competitive.

-AJ Burnett denied that he requested Molina behind the plate. I’ll have a full piece going up on this later today.

-A-Rod looked terrific at the plate last night, as he had all year. First RBI single was pulled to Left and the 2nd he went the other way and knocked it off the Right field wall. It’s typical of his approach, which has been good all season. I’ve never had an issue with the results Alex would get in recent years in the post season, you can be hitting the ball hard and in bad luck. But he wasn’t doing that.  My problem with him was always the way his approach seemed to change, he would be trying to pull outside pitches and was lunging at pitches out of the strike zone. It was painfully obvious to anyone that he was simply trying too hard in past years. But this season, his approach has been great all year and kudos to him for finally figuring it out. Nobody works harder than he does, you knew this would happen eventually.

-Congrats to out buddies over at River Ave Blues for landing the playoff recap gig at the YES Network website. Make sure to check it out, Joe, Mike and Ben always do a great job and offer a unique take on things.

Tagged with: , ,
© 2011 TYU Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha